Both the Romney and Obama campaigns agreed to a laundry list of rules for the debates. That "Memorandum of Understanding" is 21 pages long and covers everything from air conditioning to props. Whether the candidates obey the rules is another story.

Win McNamee
/ Getty Images

Listen

Listening...

/

Originally published on October 22, 2012 7:03 am

When President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney meet for their third presidential debate on Monday, there will be some rules for the candidates — and the audience.

In the first debate, Jim Lehrer of PBS demanded "Absolute silence!" Although Lehrer caught some flack for letting the candidates freewheel in that debate, he meant business when it came to keeping the audience quiet.

It's a bit of a dry read, but three debates later — two presidential and one vice presidential — it's clear neither side is afraid to break the rules, at least when it comes to debating.

When Romney asked Obama, "Mr. President, have you looked at your pension? Have you looked at your pension?" he violated Article 5 of the memorandum, Paragraph E: "The candidates may not ask each other direct questions during any of the four debates."

And when Obama told moderator Candy Crowley, "It'll be just one second because — because this is important," Crowley was just trying to do her job and follow Article 5, Paragraph I, Subsection I: "In each debate, the moderator shall ... enforce all time limits."

The memorandum has all kinds of other provisions for the debates.

Article 5, Paragraph G also dictates proper titles: "President Obama shall be addressed by the moderator as 'Mr. President' or 'President Obama'. Governor Romney shall be addressed by the moderator as 'Governor' or 'Governor Romney.' "

While the debates can get heated, the memorandum does cover air conditioning in Article 9, Paragraph A, Subsection IX: "The Commission shall use best efforts to maintain an appropriate temperature as agreed to by the campaigns."

And there is a definite rule against using props in Article 9, Paragraph B, Subsection I: "No candidate shall be permitted to use risers or any other device to create an impression of elevated height ..."

It turns out these kinds of rules are not new to this campaign. Many are holdovers from past debates.

Some go way back, says Douglas Wilson, co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College. That's Abraham Lincoln studies, by the way.

Wilson says that Lincoln and Stephen Douglas met for seven debates in 1858, and they haggled over the rules then, too. Things like timing were a big deal, Wilson says.

"One person speaks for an hour," Wilson says. "The second person speaks for an hour and a half, and the first person gets a half-hour rejoinder."

But Wilson says 21 pages of sections and subsections would have been a bit over the top back then.

"I don't think anybody would've proposed that," Wilson says, "because the other guy certainly would've used it to make fun of them."

Of course, back then, the crowd could yell and heckle the candidates all debate long.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

When President Obama and Governor Romney to meet for their third presidential debate tomorrow, there will be some rules for the candidates, and the audience.

JIM LEHRER: Absolute silence.

MARTIN: That's Jim Lehrer of PBS, talking to the audience before this year's first presidential debate. But that is not the only debate rule. This past week, Time magazine's Mark Halperin posted online the agreed-upon debate rules. It's a 21-page document known as a Memorandum of Understanding.

So, we found out that when Governor Romney said this at the second debate...

MITT ROMNEY: Mr. President, have you looked at your pension? Have you looked at your pension?

MARTIN: That was a violation of...

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: Article Five, Paragraph E: The candidates may not ask each other direct questions during any of the four debates.

TOTENBERG: In each debate, the moderator shall enforce all time limits.

MARTIN: But as we found out, the memorandum also includes provisions for proper titles.

TOTENBERG: Article Five, Paragraph G, President Obama shall be addressed by the moderator as Mr. President or President Obama. Governor Romney shall be addressed by the moderator as Governor or Governor Romney.

MARTIN: And then there was air conditioning.

TOTENBERG: Article Nine, Paragraph A, Subsection Nine, The Commission shall use best efforts to maintain an appropriate temperature as agreed to by the campaigns.

MARTIN: Even props.

TOTENBERG: Article Nine, Paragraph B, Subsection One: No candidate shall be permitted to use risers or any other device to create an impression of elevated height.

MARTIN: These kinds of rules are not new to this campaign. Many are holdovers from past debates. We wanted to find out how far back, so we called...

MARTIN: Lincoln Studies as in Abraham Lincoln. Like Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney, the future President Lincoln and then-Senator Stephen Douglas met for a series of debates in 1858. But before they ever took the stage they haggled over the rules like timing.

WILSON: One person speaks for an hour. The second person speaks for an hour and a half. And the first person gets a half-hour rejoinder.